A Little Time
by Callyn Daniels
Summary: They all had their own paths to walk, and for the first time in his short life, Sora would have to walk this one completely alone. Well, almost alone.- Oneshot. Post 3D.


A Little Time  
By Callyn Daniels

Long ago, in a land where the jokes were flat and the countryside was flatter…sorry, no. Just…no. I'm ashamed to have even gone there. Anyway, I wrote this some time ago. It was right after KH3D came out. Just a short little oneshot. Clearly I don't own Kingdom Hearts, so you can consider that my disclaimer.

* * *

_"Will you promise me something?" Kairi tucked a loose strand of hair behind her head. Both of her companions turned to look at her. Sora was bent forward, catching the eye of Riku who had looked up from his spot on the ground._

_"Anything!" Sora answered eagerly. Kairi barely let the pair of them out of her sight since they returned. Despite her prodding, Sora and Riku didn't talk much about their adventures. King Mickey had given them plenty of warning before he, Donald, and Goofy had left. That was fine. They both had realized sometime shortly after they had gotten home that they didn't want to talk about it. _

_Kairi rolled the bottle she was holding between her hands. The King's seal flashed up at her through the glass almost tauntingly. She tightened her grip._

_"Promise me you won't go off alone anymore," she threw a brief glance at Riku before turning to Sora._

_"We're never alone Kairi," Sora interjected gently, "our friends are always with us." He pressed a hand to his heart. The corner of Riku's mouth quirked up._

_"Only you could be that cheesy, Sora," there was no spite or mocking in his voice, but a kind of friendly teasing that they both had become accustomed to. Kairi smiled sadly. Placing the bottle in her lap, she reached out her hands to touch both of her boys. _

_"Please. There's nothing we can't do when we're together," Kairi voice faded to a whisper on the wind. With both a warming and sinking feeling, they knew what she was asking._

_"Kairi-" Riku trailed off, not sure how to comfort the red head. Sora leapt off the tree, turning his back to the sunset to face both his friends._

_"No matter how far away we are, our hearts will always be connected." An almost blinding grin covered his face. _

_"A part of each of us will always be with you," Riku added in warmly, though he couldn't quite bring himself to turn and look at her. Kairi's hand was still outstretched to where Sora had been sitting. Sora looked over to the docks._

_"Sora!" a voice called from the docks. Sora looked over to where he knew his mother was waiting, even if he couldn't see her. She hadn't let him out of her sight since he had gotten home. Rightly so, the way he managed to vanish of the face of the planet last time. _

_"That's my cue. See you tomorrow guys!" he waved casually, leapt far over the trunk of the tree, and began walking to the bridge._

_"We promise Kairi," Sora heard Riku assure. Just before he got out of hearing range, Sora heard her sad reply._

_"But he didn't."_

* * *

Sora thought back to that day. Subconsciously, he must have known then. He had the feeling that she had known too. The memory still stung, but it drew him back to this place like a moth to flame.

It was warm on the beach, like always. The sun was setting. Kairi's mother had told Sora that Riku had come and taken her with him. Back to Yen Sid's, probably. After his visit to Traverse Town, Sora needed to stop by home. His head was swimming…so many thoughts…so many others.

"Did you know he was in there?" Sora spoke softly. His hand was pressed to his chest. The steady thump of each beat was somewhat comforting, but he couldn't help but think that maybe he should have two instead of one. How could he have forgotten that?

"Yeah," the shadow next to him breathed. Roxas played with the zipper on his jacket and refused to look up at his other. They both sat in silence for a while.

"How much time do you think I have?" the question was loaded, and they both knew it. The brunette, for one brief moment, let himself sound as scared as he felt.

"Longer than I had." The words had bite. Roxas winced with Sora and he immediately regretted saying anything. They both knew he was still slightly bitter. Sora was hurt, Roxas could feel that.

"We've still got a little time," Roxas put in as lightly as I could. He could see Sora's lips turn up a little.

"You think?" he asked timidly. The blonde nobody returned the smile.

"I know." It was silent again, but this time it wasn't so heavy as before.

"Do you-," Sora swallowed, "do you remember the dream?" His mark of mastery exam. The trap. His nobody let out a hum of affirmation.

"I meant what I said. You deserve to be your own person as much as I do," Sora risked a glance over. Roxas had a far off look on his face.

"And that's exactly why I'm not my own person," Roxas smiled a little, thinking of some far off memory.

"You had a heart. Back in the organization," Sora thought back to the black hooded figures that had haunted him on his last adventure. They'd caused him so much pain, so much confusion, and caused too many nightmares.

"They weren't all bad," Roxas put in, following the brunette's thoughts. Sora thought back to Demyx, who used to sit and play his Sitar on the couch. He remembered ice cream with Axel and… he blinked to clear his head. That wasn't his memory. He didn't see any of those things, and he never should have in the first place.

"They're just as rightfully yours," Roxas jerked Sora out of his thoughts.

"It's not really fair you know what I'm thinking," Sora teased. Roxas grinned.

"Not much going on up there anyways," he shot back.

"Hey!" Sora swiped toward his nobody with his hand, only to have Roxas fade back into the recesses of Sora's mind with a hearty laugh. Despite having the joke at his expense, Sora grinned as well.

"Thanks," he said to himself more than anything. There was no response. It was a lot later, after the stars were twinkling overhead, that Sora moved again.

I heard you calling…

He had to remind himself that he never said that, even if he had been there to hear it.

"You're starting to wake up, aren't you?" Sora whispered to himself. Still, there was no response.

_Put an end to me…._

Once again, Sora had to hold his head at the onslaught of memories. After few moments, the pain subsided. Catching his breath, he pushed himself back up, not remembering exactly when he fell to his knees. They stung a little considering he had fallen from the tree, but it was nothing compared to things he'd fallen off of before.

Once again, he was back to the reason he'd come here in the first place. He leaned against the Paopu tree and took a deep breath and focused on the sound of the waves to ground him. It was easy here, to keep his head straight. There was no way he was going to be able to keep this from Riku and the King for long.

He wanted to tell them, truly he did. But somewhere in the depths of all of his memories, he knew how this would have to be done. He knew what was going to happen. He knew they'd never let him do it. The worst part was that he'd have to do it anyway, and this way would hurt them more in the long run.

Riku was his best friend, newly appointed keyblade master, and the original intended master of the keyblade. Sora knew that, and he had long ago gotten over the initial jealousy and feelings of being second best. They all had their own paths to walk, and for the first time in his short life, Sora would have to walk this one completely alone.

_Almost alone. _There as another long moment, where Sora had to find all his will and his courage to move from this spot.

_If this is the last time I see this place, I think I'd be ok with that._ The night was perfect. And the only thing that could have made it better was the one thing he didn't think he could face right now. His friends.

The not quite keyblade master sucked in a deep breath. When he had gathered himself, Sora summoned his weapon to his hand.

"I'm going to save you. Both of you…all of you," he stated firmly to the empty air. No response. Not that he expected one in the first place. Sora raised his keyblade, creating the usual small light show and opening the way for him to leave once again. Somewhere in a castle far away, the sleeping Ventus smiled.

* * *

Thoughts? Once again, I wrote this a while back. Sora was a bit broody, but that's why it's not really a canon based story. That and I can't really see Sora as chipper after he got Roxas' memories (at least, I think that's what happened in KH3D). Poor kid, my head felt like it was messed with almost as much as his was…well not quite. Anyway, that's all folks. Ta-ta for now.


End file.
